An image from what has been a rarity lately – a victory for my Alma Mater’s basketball team. Yesterday, I went down to Champaign-Urbana on an errand and also to partake of an offer from my friend to use a spare ticket to the Illinois-Iowa game. The U of I doesn’t allow ‘professional’ cameras (defined as having detachable lenses) at their events, so I brought along my ‘antique’ (in terms of digital equipment) point and shoot camera. The telephoto properties of this camera are limited, but at least it’s easier for me to keep track of the action without having to constantly move my focus around from player to player. Photographing a sports event with tight cropping gives you some great images, but you tend to not know what is really going on in the game and my primary purpose was to enjoy the game and not try for an SI cover shot.

For the sports fans – this was one of two three point shots that DJ Richardson made that put the Illini up by seven midway through the second half. Illinois was up by eleven at the half and Iowa had closed to four points. Illinois eventually won 65 – 54.

Last April I had an image of a building number. I walked by the building a few days ago and there had been some remodeling. Great color on the door and the bricks haven’t gotten grundgy yet. It’s hard to see at this size, but there is a faint ‘1111’ printed on the door.

While in New Orleans back in 2005, I came across this neat vehicle. I was with a group of people and didn’t have time to make a lot of images and I was always disappointed with the clutter and people in the background. I desaturated the background and while it doesn’t completely solve the problem, it certainly makes the car pop out.

Not ‘Lord of the Rings’ but the Willis (nee Sears) Tower and a cell phone tower in the west Loop area of Chicago. The west Loop used to be heavily industrial and commercial but is now being turned into condos, restaurants and shops. I posted another image of the Willis earlier with a water tower. Now I’ll have to be on the lookout for other towers that I can match up with the big building.

Along the Interstates, they have plastic barrels filled with sand so that if you crash into them, they’ll absorb a lot of the punishment and save you and your vehicle. Not so with these babies. Stray from the path and it’s you who take the punishment.